


The Jean Grey School for Wayward Wolverines

by RenaRoo



Category: Wolverine (Comics), X-23 (Comic), X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:34:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22154836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenaRoo/pseuds/RenaRoo
Summary: Gabby is left at the Jean Grey school while Laura works with the Avengers on a mission she can’t be a part of, but of course Gabby is never one to let things end that simply.
Relationships: Gabrielle Kinney & Laura Kinney
Comments: 8
Kudos: 26





	The Jean Grey School for Wayward Wolverines

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea what brought this on other than a year of missing my girls and wanting the legacy of Wolverine to mean… well…. a legacy again but hey. At least we’ve got 50 X-books again and so far none of them have met my Kinney quota of 2

It was too warm for January and the limbs of the trees all seemed to bristle and grow brittle in response to the simple, inalienable fact. And because it was too warm for January, the argument seemed to be that it was too warm for knit sweaters and earmuffs.

This was obviously just an _excuse_ and nowhere near reality because Laura accepted no such excuses from Gabby. Not that Gabby had a problem with wearing matching earmuffs with her sweater and winter coat combo, or with an excuse for wearing the extra fun leggings and boots that _really_ tied her skirt and mittens all together.

But, supposedly, Jonathan was not going to be comfortable in a sweater.

“He’s not a _Laura,_ Laura, he’s a _Gabby!”_ Gabby argued vehemently. She then raised the Jonathan sized winter cap she had finished as a point. “And he’s going to look so _cute!”_

“He’s not a _Laura_ or a _Gabby_ because he’s a _Jonathan._ And Jonathans are wolverines with a very heavy winter coat right now,” Laura argued, crossing her arms with Jonathan’s sweater in hand. “If you make him too hot, he’ll get cranky on his walk and try to pull it off again. And if he does, he’ll get out of his harness. Again. Then we have a problem with the park rangers.” She paused ominously before ending with another, “ _Again._ ”

Gabby stubbornly sat on the floor, Jonathan seated in her lap and raised up her arms almost reflexively. “Is that what we’ve come to in the Kinney household now? Risking our precious Jonathan catching a cold out of fear of the _authorities!_ What a joke. I’m gonna call Wade.”

“You can’t call Wade,” Laura said, rolling her eyes. “It would be a losing point for you anyway.”

“You’re no fun,” Gabby groaned, falling back onto the apartment floor dramatically. She showed a lot of restraint by not moving as Jonathan — _adorably —_ crawled onto her stomach and worriedly pawed at her chest. “We should run free out into the wild, Jonathan. Leave behind this stuffy city life.”

“Wolverines don’t wear clothes in the wild,” Laura argued, already putting away Jonathan’s cute sweater in the pet drawer.

Gabby wrinkled her nose at Laura. “Maybe _you_ should live in the wild then,” she shot back.

“Did,” Laura answered without even looking her way. Because _of course_ she had. “Naked. In the snow. Was kind of boring.”

“What, did you just run around naked for a while then?” Gabby asked, squinting. “Why?”

“It’s a… _Wolverine_ thing,” Laura failed at explaining, straightening up and looking down at Gabby with mild amusement.

“That’s why I’m a _Honey Badger,”_ Gabby said, a fond smile growing on her lips.

“Sure is,” Laura agreed. “You ready for our walk yet?”

“Yup!” Gabby sheered, sitting bolt straight so fast that Jonathan rolled down to her lap in surprise. “Even if Jonathan has to be naked.”

“He does,” Laura says.

In a few short, swift moves, Gabby is on her feet and clicking on Jonathan’s harness. Their daily routine is almost ready to proceed when there is a knock on the door.

Out of reflex, Laura and Gabby both unleash their claws in an echo of _SNIKTS_ — because they should have been able to _smell_ someone coming toward their apartment. Neither of them had.

When the knocks continue, Laura suspiciously nears the door and glances through the peephole.

Gabby was reflexively tense, watching her sister, but she relaxed when she saw Laura recall her claws and straighten up in preparation for opening the door.

“Who is it?” Gabby asked out of curiosity, putting away her claw as well.

“Vision,” Laura answered before opening the door.

“Le _gasp!”_ Gabby called out, putting her hands on her cheeks. “Like Vision from the _Avengers?_ So cool! Unless we did something. Did we do something?”

The door opened and Laura had been telling the truth — there he was, the one and only _Vision_ of the Avengers. Which, of course, _no wonder_ they hadn’t smelled him. He was a robot. A robot who could _walk through walls._

Which, Gabby supposed, made it a sign of manners and restraint that he knocked on the door. So that was nice.

“As far as the Avengers is aware, there is no reason to come after you, Gabrielle Kinney,” Vision answered her with an ominous look.

“Okay, cool,” Gabby grinned. “Hi, by the way. I have your daughter’s poster! Hope that’s not weird. I bet it is. I’ll shut up now. I’m being a gay disaster.”

Vision raised one of the ridges over his eyes before glancing toward Laura. “Wolverine, the Avengers requires you.”

“Where to and how long?” Laura asked, neglecting all the questions that _Gabby_ would be asking.

But, then, that was a difference between a Gabby and a Laura.

“Am I interrupting anything important?” Vision asked.

“Uh, yeah, evening _walk_ , duh,” Gabby countered, waving to the obvious setup.

“I apologize for interrupting family activities. I, too, have come to understand their importance above all else,” Vision assured them. “However, this mission for Wolverine—“

“And Honey Badger,” Gabby corrected.

“No, not this time,” Laura turned and began walking toward Gabby.

“What? How do you know? What…” Gabby stopped short and watched Laura with vague scrutiny as her sister got down on one knee in front of her and put a hand on her shoulder. Gabby gasped. “You… _knew_ you were going on a super cool, super-secret Avengers mission! And you didn’t tell your own _team?”_

“I promised to be quiet about it,” she told Gabby without breaking her stare. “I am sorry. It’s not one we do together.”

“But how do you know that you won’t get into the thick of it and need me for a surprise _K-O_ or to provide you with the perfect ending pun?” Gabby fretted.

“Not that kind of mission,” Laura assured her again, squeezing Gabby’s shoulder. She then glanced slightly back toward the Vision. “How long?”

“You will need some arrangements,” Vision answered magnanimously.

“Already made,” Laura said, getting to her feet. “Gabby, grab your go bags.”

Perking up, Gabby ran immediately to her room, abandoning a confused Jonathan, and immediately began grabbing her overnight bags — pre-packed — and then grabbed a few Avengers-themed items to possibly be signed. Then she ran back to the room. “Ready!” she called out excitedly.

“Good,” Laura said, already in uniform like a champ. She looked to the Vision. “The Jean Grey School is on the way.”

Gabby blinked a few times and then uttered, “Wait. What.”

* * *

They were quiet on the drive. Which, of course, was more unusual for one of them than for the other.

Gabby sat in the passenger seat, feet on the seat as her knees tucked in under her chin. The familiar sights of New York were passing by the window and Jonathan was snugly secured in the backseat along with the eponymous Kinney Family statue and Gabby’s go bags.

Laura was driving at her usual efficient speed, but her attention was not fully on the road. Gabby could tell by the way Laura looked her way every few moments.

“You’re upset,” Laura surmised, biting on her lip.

“Uh, _duh,_ comes to mind,” Gabby countered with a curl to her nose. “You’re keeping stuff from me! I had _no idea_ anything was going on with the Avengers!”

“I didn’t tell you, that’s why you didn’t know,” Laura stated, like the fact alone was somehow an answer.

“But that’s the _problem!_ You should have _told me_ something!” Gabby growled angrily. “We’re partners!”

“We are,” Laura agreed before pointing Gabby’s way. “But this is not something for our team. It is my other team and me.”

It felt like Gabby’s chest was being ripped in half with adamantium. “When the Avengers asked to have Wolverine on the team, you said _we_ were honored. That’s what you said to them, Laura! You said that _we_ were on the team. We’re supposed to be a two-package deal.”

“I said that. I said that you were _with_ me,” Laura agreed, but her tone was unrelenting. “But that is my decision. I am responsible for you. I know when to involve you and when to tell you where else to go.”

“It’s because of the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Brood thing, isn’t it?” Gabby demanded. “You don’t trust me anymore, but you should. Because I beat the Brood when no one else ever has! Why does me getting in _trouble_ always count, but me winning never does? How is that fair?”

Laura glared at Gabby over her sunglasses, but Gabby refused to fall back in line. Not this time.

Shaking her head, Laura looked back to the road. “It isn’t about the Brood and it isn’t about mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes.”

“Then tell me about the Avengers thing,” Gabby begged, desperate. “There _has_ to be a reason you’re doing this!”

“That reason is why you can’t know about it, too,” Laura snapped. “It isn’t _simple,_ Gabby. It’s complicated and it’s… it’s dangerous for you to know.”

“How could it be dangerous for me to _know_ something?” Gabby began to argue. She had a whole speech lined up, about ageism and teamwork and a dozen other angles pointing out how unjust the situation was.

But Laura wasn’t letting her get to any of them.

“Gabby,” Laura said, probably exasperated if the jut of her jaw was something to go by, “When I was your age, I didn’t have _anyone_ looking out for me. I didn’t have anyone… _advocating_ for me. And even when I got older, people had _purposes_ for me more than they had an interest in doing what was best for my future. Even the people who cared about me. I saw and did things I wasn’t ready for. I knew and was expected to know things that still linger with me. Even today.” Her gaze shifted to Gabby heavily. “I didn’t know how to feel human for a long time. I didn’t know how to act my age for a long time. I didn’t know how to feel like my tomorrow counted for a _long time._ And because I’m older now, I realize that all those things are connected. That things people let or make you do _now_ can stay with you and erase your personhood even for today.”

Quiet and sheepish, Gabby lowered her feet to the car floor mat. “Is the Avengers thing one of those things?”

“Yes,” Laura answered lowly.

“Then _why?”_ Gabby preened. “Why do it at all?”

“Someone has to, so everyone else doesn’t,” Laura said strongly. “I have to so you don’t.”

“I’m not asking you to,” Gabby argued. “If you did these things when you were my age, I can do them now!”

“Then I will fail you,” Laura hissed, almost like the thought had wounded her. “Then _everything_ will have been for nothing.”

Gabby lowered her face, frustrated. “It’s not bad for me to be like you, Laura. The only thing I’ve ever wanted to be is to be _like you._ ”

“I know,” Laura said solemnly. “The only thing I have ever wanted, _period,_ is for you to be better.”

The car ride was deafening from that point on.

* * *

The moment they pulled into the gated driveway of the Jean Grey School, Gabby could feel the uncomfortable prickliness of being watched.

She was slow to fully disengage from the car and begin the far worse and more painful act of taking her things out of the car and into the building. This must have been obvious since Laura immediately got out, opened the back door, and slung all of Gabby’s things out of the seat and onto her shoulders.

“I can carry my stuff,” Gabby whined, finally unhooking her seatbelt. “I was _gonna_ get it all just…”

“It’s fine,” Laura contested, holding up a hand to stop Gabby from jumping across the seats in a vain attempt to take one of the bags. “Just get Jonathan.”

Jonathan did not need a second push. He leaped from the car and found the first good grassy spot on his radar to hike a leg.

Unfortunately, the grass did not seem to care for that action.

With a hideous roar, the earth and grass and roots lifted and cracked apart from each other, forming a fanged mouth to snap at Jonathan.

Like a good Wolverine, Jonathan was fast to evade and came barreling back toward the car.

“HEY!” Laura and Gabby snarled together, echoing _SNKTS_ reigning out in response.

“Ladies! Krakoa!” a thundering voice called from above.

Gabby looked up and was instantly mesmerized by the sheer power radiating from Storm as her eyes glowed and sparked with lightning and the winds of all four seasons bellowed around her. She was probably the most majestic thing that Gabby had seen in her young life. It was terrifying and _amazing_ all at once.

“Nice,” Gabby got out of her system.

“I apologize for the misunderstanding,” Storm said as her feet graced the pavement beside the Kinney sisters. “After showing Gabrielle around, I will show you where your pet can happily excuse himself.”

“He’s a wolverine, he can kinda decide that himself,” Gabby was quick to retort as her claws slipped back into place.

“While I am sure that is true in most situations, I am afraid we have a special relationship with the grounds,” Storm explained patiently. Her smile was fabulous, but the sweetness was turning Gabby’s stomach bitter.

It probably would have been easier to dunk on literally any other X-Men who would come to greet her.

“I already know around,” Gabby argued. “If I’m going to be entombed here, can’t we just go ahead and do it without a tour?”

“You don’t know where to let Jonathan out to,” Laura huffed. She sounded more irritated than she usually did with Gabby. Maybe it was the car ride. Maybe it was the attitude Gabby was giving off.

“Maybe it’s _Maybelline,_ ” Gabby couldn’t help but mutter to herself.

By the time Gabby glanced up, she could only see Laura’s discontent. It was a look that Laura wore masterfully. Oh, boy were they going to have a _talk_ by the end of whatever the Avengers thing was.

“I understand that you are upset, Gabrielle,” Storm said gently, squaring herself with Gabby to address her directly. “And no doubt uncomfortable considering you have not lived here with us before. But we are family, and this was once your sister’s permanent home. And it always may be again. Just as it will always be a home for you.”

“Like when my sister leaves me to go play with the Avengers on a super cool, super-secret mission?” Gabby asked critically.

Storm’s patient smile continued its presence. “I am afraid that sounds like a rather… _uncharitable_ take on your sister’s situation,” Storm chided. “We can discuss it later. For now, I would much rather you get to know the other students who you will be rooming with while you are here.”

Gabby searched her mind for a proper response, but she was distracted as she noticed Laura haughtily carting off Gabby’s things in one of the directions of a dormitory. “Laura!” Gabby whined, clamoring to catch up with her sister.

“I don’t know why you’re making this so difficult, Gabby,” Laura grunted as she pushed open a dorm door with the heel of her foot. “No one _planned_ for things to happen this way. Sometimes they just do.”

“Maybe I come from a family that seems _really_ good at breaking the rules when it seems to suit literally _everybody else_ but themselves,” she grumbled in return.

Laura glanced over her shoulder, utterly ignoring the colorfully diverse set of young mutants peering their melodrama around the dorm halls. “What would you do on this dangerous mission you know nothing about, Gabby?”

“Anything to watch my sister’s back,” Gabby answered without a moment’s hesitation. “Because no one else has ever done it for her before. And she doesn’t know how important it is. Because she’s stubborn. Like a goat. A _goat-verine._ A _woof-oat.”_

Without losing her direct eye contact with Gabby, Laura turned knowingly in the hall and nudged open a specific door to a suite.

“How do you know where they’re jailing me?” Gabby demanded. “Are you just _that_ awesome, Laura?”

“I asked,” Laura said, setting Gabby’s things down. “It was mine.”

Curious, Gabby entered the room, glancing around suspiciously. There was a large bay window, some plain but beautiful oak furniture including a dresser and vanity. Two closets, a small kitchenette that matched with a Mr. Coffee that was identical to the one in their apartment. A bathroom was also attached to the suite right next to the mini couch and television. Two desks to work at. It was a fairly useful space, all things considering.

“I don’t believe it,” Gabby announced. “Where’s a punching bag? I refuse to believe you lived here without a workout station. You’re cheapening out on me—“

Gabby didn’t have time to get much further because Laura was already pulling her into a full embrace. Laura’s muscular arms were holding tight to the back of Gabby’s head and in the small of her back, just holding her against Laura’s body with a strength that didn’t want to let go.

Silently, Gabby reached up and hugged her sister back the best she could with the awkward angle.

They stood that way for a while, hugging and quiet.

It was a Wolverine kind of thing.

“I’ll come back the second the mission is done,” Laura finally promised. “We’ll get takeout. I’ll tell you all about it.”

“I don’t know if that’ll fully cure my wounded pride,” Gabby said sardonically.

“You’ll get over it,” Laura promised. “You’re a Wolverine.”

“I’m a Honey Badger,” Gabby smirked, closing her eyes as she buried herself in her sister’s warm embrace one last time. “But yeah. I guess you’re right.”

They stayed that way for a while. It didn’t seem like _either_ of them were actually ready for the actual separating part of their situation.

But the time _did_ come.

And Gabby watched her sister – her only family – leave the grounds of the Jean Grey School without her. 

* * *

Gabby would have had an easier time adjusting to living in a nunnery.

Two days after being left at the Jean Grey School, Gabby was faced with her very first Monday in the facility. She had had a terrible time attempting to sleep the night before — Jonathan needed bathroom breaks, and the AC didn’t run loudly like it did in the apartment, and there was the sound of people talking down the hall about homework and _power development,_ and Gabby dreamed of Avengers turning to her with heavy expressions and neatly putting a hand on her shoulder to say _how sorry_ they were —

By the time the alarm clock on her bedside read _9:00 AM_ , Gabby could finally close her eyes and bury herself beneath layers of blankets.

That was until a stern knocking came from her door.

For a few knocks, Gabby ignored it. Then, when the winds came through her open window and began to mess with her lock, she figured the time for simple ignorance had passed.

“Hold on! I can open my own door!” she yelled over the winds.

Sitting up in her bed, Gabby sighed, shook her lion’s mane of hair as loose as she could, then kicked her legs out from the duvet. Her body ached slightly before she went through the exaggerated routine of popping each bone in her back.

The wind had stopped attempting to pick her lock, but they still pelted her as she walked by the window. Pushing her toward the door.

At last, she kicked on her fuzzy matching slippers and shuffled her way to the door. Sniffing, she picked up the scent of her visitor rather quickly. Not that she needed the confirmation to know it was Headmaster Munroe seeking her out.

Gabby finally opened the door, blinking away the brightness of the hallway lights as he did so.

Before her stood Storm. She wasn’t in her uniform, but her sense of fashion could still kill. High platform heels, dress pants, and simple colorful blouse, with an accent necklace that Gabby couldn’t have imagined pulling off in her wildest dreams. She was magnificent looking.

And she was staring down rather imposingly to Gabby in her matching Champions pajamas ensemble.

“Hello,” Gabby greeted groggily.

“Gabrielle,” Storm said curtly. “It seems you are not planning on attending the classes on your schedule.”

“Not really,” Gabby admitted readily.

A hum came from Storm as she glanced at the room behind Gabby.

When Storm’s gaze shifted back to Gabby, it was strong enough to make the young Honey Badger squirm in her fluffy slippers. “I believe it would be important for you to get dressed and meet me in my office as soon as possible.”

“I could show up like this,” Gabby answered without hesitation.

“If that is how you think you should,” Storm said archly, her brows raising slightly at the prospect.

Giving it even a moment’s more thought had Gabby hesitating. _It’s time to get a bit serious, Bub,_ she told herself with a heavy sigh.

“Okay, Ms. Munroe, I’ll be right there,” she promised, heading back into the depths of her room.

It was strange being in trouble with someone other than Laura. With someone with _authority_ other than Laura.

Strangely, as she rummaged through her unpacked bags for a new shirt and jeans to wear, Gabby couldn’t help her own growing grin.

She kind of liked the trouble thing. Maybe it suited her.

* * *

One problem that was undeniable about Gabby’s routine was that it did not spare a lot of time for vamping. Throwing on a novelty tee or sweatshirt, an endless supply of leggings, and some dorky shoes she was ready to go. The less time the better. Normally.

Avoiding a serious discussion with the headmaster of a school for superpowered teens did not, exactly, fit into the routine of _normally_ , unfortunately.

Instead, Gabby found herself on the other side of Storm’s desk far too quickly for her liking.

Storm sat on the other side of the desk, hands folded together just beneath her chin, and leaned toward Gabby with the full attention of her very captivating eyes. “You seem to be resisting forming a routine with us,” Storm noted.

“I’m not really one for routines, it’s not anything personal,” Gabby answered quickly.

A small smile crept its way onto Storm’s face. “You seem to have a routine with your pet Jonathan that is well attended to,” she argued lightly.

Gabby took the point into consideration and looked at Storm seriously instead. “I feel like there’s a difference between pet routines and putting people with _thoughts_ and _dreams_ and _futures_ on a schedule,” she argues. “I mean, maybe that’s what schools gotta do with regular teenagers, but I’m not really a regular teenager! It’s not gonna work with me!”

Before Gabby had even gotten through her words, Storm’s carefully composed figure lowered her hands to the desk and threw her head back to laugh, truly and deeply.

“What? What’d I do?” Gabby demanded, her heart racing.

“My apologies,” Storm chuckled. “That is, by far, the _most_ normal teenager argument you’ve given so far. I believe it has been used by your fellow students in this office at _least_ three dozen times. Only since I became the headmaster.”

Defensively, Gabby’s nose curled and she leaned into the back of her chair. “No, that can’t be right… Look, it doesn’t matter if that’s what the other kids have _said_ before, for _me_ it’s true! I mean… I’m a Wolverine! In the making. I’m a Honey Badger now, but, like, just look at this family history! You wouldn’t make Logan go through these kinds of things.”

“Logan was not involved with the school until well after he had already reached adulthood,” Storm informed her. “However, even then, had I been headmaster, I probably would have _demanded_ some classes in the early days.”

Gabby raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Like?”

“Manners,” Storm answered flatly.

Despite herself, Gabby snorted and felt her traitorous mouth perk up in the corners. “Yeah. Probably.” She glanced slightly off, a thought passing her by. “I mean, just from what Laura’s told me and all.” She looked to Storm finally, looking for any hint of judgment in her eyes. For the moment, there didn’t seem to be any. “I never really met him, y’know.”

In Storm’s eyes was a sadness that Gabby had not fully seen before. The older woman leaned back, taking in a deep breath. “Yes. I know.”

“But I know _all about_ Laura,” Gabby continued, feeling her shoulders fall back and her chest puffs up with pride. “I know _everything_ about Laura. Everything she’ll let me. _AND!_ Some things I know that she wouldn’t let me. That’s just how well I know Laura.”

For a moment, Storm allowed them to sit in the gravity of Gabby’s comments.

Then, ever so slowly, she raised from her seat and walked gracefully around her desk. “Did Laura ever tell you that I was her teacher while she was here?” she asked as she came to sit at the chair beside Gabby.

Gabby raised an eyebrow at her. “No, not really,” she said before shaking her head. “No, wait, that’s not true! Laura’s talked about taking classes here, and I know you’re the headmaster now and used to teach. So, I knew that. I just… didn’t think about it that much. But I totally knew that!”

“But it wasn’t said directly,” Storm pressed.

“Some things don’t have to be,” Gabby countered.

“Maybe they still _should_ be, though,” Storm continued. “Gabrielle, I want you to be happy while you are here, and I also want you to receive something from this stay that you simply could not otherwise. I want you to grow, develop, _become.”_

Slowly, almost as if the question was being dragged out of her throat, Gabby leaned in closer to Storm and asked, “Become _what?_ ”

“Become _who_ you are meant to be,” Storm assured her.

“Well, I’m meant to be a _Wolverine,_ obviously,” Gabby said, pushing her back into her chair. “And all the Wolverines before me didn’t stay behind at school and do all this _growing_ and _developing_ and _becoming_ while other people were putting their butts on the line.” Gabby turned her gaze sharply on Storm. “Not even Laura when she was a student. When she was _your_ student. She still had to do the Wolverine stuff that she doesn’t want me around now. So. I should be doing that, and you _let_ Laura do that once already, and if you _really_ want me to become a Wolverine-like I’m supposed to be, then you should let me do it, too.”

Finished with her long-winded speech, Gabby found herself looking in the eyes of a far less receptive Storm than what she started with.

Storm had uncrossed her legs and had both feet planted firmly on the floor. Her hands were gripping the edges of her armrests with the nails digging in. But the look on Storm’s face was one that surprised Gabby most of all.

It looked as if the older woman was in _grief_ rather than inconsolable anger like Gabby had been anticipating.

Silence draped over the room as they sat and stared at each other.

And Gabby never did do well with silence.

“Uh, Ms. Munroe?” she asked cautiously. “I’m kinda new at this _defiance_ thing so maybe I’m just not tough enough yet to the silent treatment… but you kind of seem upset? And I deal with that a _lot_ less well than I deal with the whole _anger_ thing. So it’d be great if you could give me a clue as to which way I should be leaning here.”

“Child,” Storm sighed, at last, putting one hand to her face. She was hiding behind her fingers, almost in shame.

It was Gabby’s turn to be taken aback.

“I cannot… begin to explain to you the regret I have in my bones…” she drew in a deep breath. “How much I ache at night, recalling how much I failed as an adult, a teacher, a _guardian_ — how I was one of the many in this institution who failed to protect your sister in all the ways that she deserved to be from the moment she was in our care, to every _second_ that followed.”

Gabby looked at Storm, confused and conflicted. “Laura doesn’t think you failed her,” Gabby argued. “She says that sometimes Wolverines have gotta do the jobs that no one else can, so no one else _has_ to. And—“

“Let me assure you, Gabrielle,” Storm said solemnly, “any child which feels that burden while remaining in our care… any child which feels obligated to make such choices when _I_ am around to provide them support and protection… Those are my failures. I, and every other caretaker here, have failed your sister. We cannot go back and correct it, but we can do our best for Laura now.”

The conversation was heavy. It was heavier than anything Gabby had felt before and she began to squirm in its discomfort.

“How can you make it up to Laura?” Gabby asked genuinely. “I mean she’s awesome and perfect and I don’t know why you’d want her to be any different… but even if you _did_ want her to, I don’t know, _maybe talk to her sister more_ , how could you do that now?”

Slowly sliding her hand from her defeated face down to her lab, Storm’s expression seemed to return to the picture of serene. Her gaze shifted back to Gabby and a soft smile built on her lips. “Through you, Gabrielle.”

Lost again, Gabby tilted her head. “Huh?”

“We cannot fix the mistakes of our past, but we can do better for today and tomorrow,” Storm continued. “Laura wants the most exceptional, safe, and _loved_ life for you that she never had for herself. And she wants it because she loves _you_ with the sense of protection others should have always looked out for her with. You are not like the other students, you still have seen and done things some students your age here could not imagine. And you will likely see more than them, too. But your _safety_ and your _choices_ will never be taken from you the way they have been for Logan and Laura, and so many others your family call _Wolverines.”_

Gabby frowned and squirmed. “Sounds like responsibility.”

“It should sound more like… _opportunity,”_ Storm assured her. “You will not be at this school indefinitely, not in the way many other young mutants may need to be. After a time, should you and your sister so choose, you will return with her to your apartment and continue your lives.”

“Thank _applesauce,”_ Gabby groaned, melting into her seat. Catching herself, she blinked and straightened up. “Uh, no offense, of course.”

Storm was smiling. “While you _are_ here, Gabrielle, try to take the opportunity to choose opportunities others haven’t had.”

“Okay,” Gabby sighed in agreement. “I will.”

* * *

It was the end of her Thursday classes, two weeks after arriving at the Jean Grey School, that Gabby couldn’t even open her eyelids. She drags her feet against the carpeted floors of the dormitory and easily opened her room door with a moan.

“Jonathan, let’s go outside, boy—“ she began to say before sniffing.

In an instant, Gabby’s nostrils filled with an all-too-familiar scent.

Her eyes snapped open and Gabby gasped as she looked across her room to the edge of her bed.

Laura sat, Jonathan gingerly tucked into her arms, petting the wolverine’s tummy fur in that way only Laura and Gabby could. She then looked up and smirked at Gabby.

“Welcome back, Honey Badger,” Laura said, putting Jonathan to the side. She rose to her feet to stand.

Gabby didn’t give her the chance.

The younger sister launched herself across the room and tackled Laura’s waist in a vice-like hug. “Laura! Oh my gosh! You’re back! It’s been so long!”

“I know, and I’m sorry about that,” Laura said, quick to return the hug. “Means I’ve got lots to tell you over takeout, though.”

With a large grin, Gabby looked up at her sister. “Really!? Was it awesome? Was it scary? Was it lonely? Was it—“ Once her racing thoughts finally caught up to her, Gabby withdrew slightly, glancing away in thought. She then once more met her sister’s gaze. “I can’t wait to get home! But… I’ve got some friends here to say bye to first. I mean. I’m _ready_ to go home! I’m not even unpacked! But… do you think… if we’ve got time…?”

Laura grew that one-sided smirk she always got when amused with Gabby. She planted a hand on Gabby’s head and rustled her hair. “Of course we do,” Laura answered. “Go on, say what you need to to your friends. I’ll get Jonathan and your stuff.”

Gabby let out a sigh of relief and let go of Laura. She was halfway out the door when Laura called to her.

“Gabby,” Laura said, hands on her hips. There was an easy softness to her gaze when Gabby looked to her. “I’m really proud of you, Wolverine.”

For a moment, Gabby could only blink in bewilderment. Then, slowly, the context caught up with her. She grinned back. “Thanks, Sis,” she said. “You too.”


End file.
